Sport review 5 november 2015

 

Alexander Povetkin claims stoppage win over Mariusz Wach

Alexander
Povetkin\’s hopes of securing a world title fight with WBC heavyweight
champion Deontay Wilder have been boosted by a stoppage victory over
Mariusz Wach at the TatNeft Arena in Kazan.

The Russian,
defending his WBC silver heavyweight title, commanded the centre of the
ring from the first bell and landed with firm combinations in the second
and third rounds, which had Wach back-pedalling onto the ropes.

Povetkin
(30-1 KO22) continued to dictate proceedings, but his dominance was
momentarily halted towards the end of the fourth round, suffering a cut
above his left eye following a fierce overhand right from Wach (31-2
KO17).

The fighters came into the bout in Russia with only one
career defeat to their name – both against current IBF, WBO, IBO, and
WBA champion Wladimir Klitschko – but Povetkin\’s superior power and foot
work began to tell as the rounds wore on, with Wach suffering a cut
below his left eye in the tenth.

Povetkin remained firmly in the
ascendency as the fight entered the final round and as a tired Wach
failed with a late attempt to claim an unlikely knockout victory, the
cut above his eye worsened causing the referee to step in to end the
contest.

 

Denis Lebedev retained his WBA cruiserweight title with an eighth-round stoppage of Lateef Kayode.

The
Nigerian challenger posed some fairly unique questions to the
36-year-old champion with his showboating but Lededev stayed disciplined
and moved to 28-2-KO21 with what proved an emphatic victory in the end.

Kayode
(21-1 KO16) insisted he had slipped to the canvas in the seventh but
the fact he had been hurt was clear in the next session when Lebedev
began landing big left hands at will – prompting the referee\’s
intervention with Kayode swaying on the ropes.

Cesar Rene Cuenca
saw his dream of joining Floyd Mayweather Jr and Rocky Marciano on 49-0
ruined as he suffered a bizarre sixth-round stoppage defeat to Eduard
Troyanovsky.

The Argentinian was fighting away from home for only
the second time in his career and found the going tough with the home
fighter (23-0-KO20) using his superior reach to good effect before
landing a heavy left hand in the sixth.

Troyanovsky had just
landed another sharp uppercut when the two tangled and Cuenca was pushed
to the floor. He rose amid protests from his corner and appeared
reluctant to continue, resulting in the Russian becoming IBF
super-lightweight champion.

London-born cruiserweight Ola Afolabi
(22-4-4) shrugged off a nasty cut above his left eye to record another
shock – knocking out Rakhim Chakhkiev (24-2-KO18) in the fifth with a
shuddering right-left combination.

Chakhkiev piled on the
pressure in the early stages and both fighters came away bloodied from
several head clashes, but Afolabi produced a well-timed right to send
Chakhkiev stumbling forward in the fifth session – finishing the job
with a left.

Light-heavyweight prospect Dmitry Bivol continued
to impress as he battered Jackson Junior to a halt in the fourth round
courtesy of a substantial overhand right.

The 24-year-old has stopped all five of his professional opponents to date.

Cruiserweight
knockout artist Dmitry Kudryashov was the victim of the upset of the
night as he suffered a second-round stoppage defeat to unfancied
Nigerian Olanrewaju Durodola (22-2 KO20).

The home fighter went
about his business with the usual purpose in the first session as he
nearly knocked Durodola down with a big left, but he was left stunned by
two rights in the second and the referee was left with little choice
but the stop the fight as Kudryashov continued to take shots on the
ropes.

 

 

 

 

 

Bellator champion Will Brooks, \’Pitbull\’ brothers allegedly have physical altercation in hotel
If Bellator wanted a shot of juice into its Friday night tentpole event, it may very well have found it.

In
a series of tweets posted Wednesday, lightweight champion Will Brooks
claimed to have been attacked by the “Pitbull” brothers, Patricky Freire
and featherweight champion Patricio Freire, while on-site in St. Louis
for Bellator 145.

Brooks went on to post a picture of a bloody
shirt and alleged to have video evidence of the incident. Brooks has
since deleted the photo of the shirt.
Brooks and the “Pitbull”
brothers have a history of tension. The rivalry came to a head in August
when social media trash talk erupted into a lengthy promise by Brooks
to slap Patricio Freire in the mouth when the two fighters next saw each
other.

For his part, Freire was quick to deny Brooks\’ allegations and claim that the American initiated the scuffle.

Bellator
officials issued the following statement to MMAFighting.com regarding
the incident: “We are looking into the situation and gathering
surveillance footage at this time. We have no further comment at this
time.”

Both Freire brothers declined to comment when contacted by MMAFighting.com.

Brooks
and Patricio Freire are slated to defend their Bellator titles against
Marcin Held and Daniel Straus, respectively, on Nov. 6 at Bellator 145.
The night\’s main card airs live on Spike TV.

Regardless of what
happened, there will be no action taken by the Missouri Office of
Athletics, the regulatory body for Bellator 145. Chris Cline, the
communications director for the Missouri Department of Insurance,
Financial Institutions & Professional Registration, told MMA
Fighting that the incident is outside the regulation of the commission.

 

 

 
Amir Khan ‘signs agreement’ to fight Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas next year

Amir
Khan is reported to have signed an agreement to fight Manny Pacquiao
next year, which sets pulses and alarm bells ringing simultaneously.

A
report by the Daily Mail stated the former world champion “has agreed
terms in every last detail” for a fight against the eight-division
champion on 9 April in Las Vegas. The document has apparently reached
Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, although he told Yahoo Sports that those
claims were “bullshit”.

“It’s total bullshit. It’s complete bullshit,” he said.

“I’m
sitting here trying to figure a way to sell tickets to my fight
[between Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios on Saturday] and now my phone
is ringing off the hook because this lunatic made some shit up.”

If
it does happen, it is a fight with plenty of history, given the
fighters were once training partners at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym in
Hollywood and then grew apart when Khan fell out with Roach before
joining Andre Ward’s mentor, Virgil Hunter.

“Our paperwork went off to Arum on Friday and every point is covered,” Khan’s father and chief adviser, Shah Khan, said.

Pacquiao
is in rehabilitation after injuring a shoulder last year on the eve of
his defeat by Floyd Mayweather Jr, a fight that proved to be one of
boxing’s great delayed let-downs.

He has been pencilled in for an
April return with no fixed opponent, although Khan’s name was in the
mix, along with those of Tim Bradley and Terence Crawford, the latter an
attractive but extremely dangerous match-up, the former not exactly
blinding box-office. So Khan was a logical banker for Arum to maximise
Pacquiao’s return.
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However Khan has been down
this road before, with no result at the end of it. In December 2013 he
signed an agreement to fight Floyd Mayweather. The only problem was
Mayweather had signed nothing – and dodged Khan to fight Marcos Maidana,
whom Khan had already beaten.

There were further reports at
about that time that Khan might also fight Pacquaio, feeding on the
animosity between him and Roach, but that is pretty much a dead issue
now.

Of more concern to supporters of the British fighter is his
seeming trust in the promises of the business’s main movers and shakers.
He signed with Mayweather’s behind-the-scenes mastermind, Al Haymon,
specifically to get a fight with the champion, and was sadly let down
three times: twice because Maidana got the biggest gig in boxing against
Mayweather, then when his own gym mate, Andre Berto, became Floyd’s
49th and supposedly last opponent.

“We have been here before with
Mayweather,” Shah Khan admitted, “so, while we are confident the
contract will be back with us in the next few days, we are holding the
second Saturday in January as a fall-back date for an alternative
fight.”

That seems a far more likely route to follow, and his
opponent then will probably be Danny Garcia, who ripped away his
light-welterweight title in 2012 to instigate the messiest passage of
Khan’s career.

He has done tremendously well to rebuild from that disappointment. He could do without any more false promises.

If
he does get the fight with Pacquiao, it will be deserved. He might also
win it, given the Filipino’s gradual decline over the past few years
and his increasing involvement in his country’s politics as a serving
congressmen. If Pacquiao were in anyway distracted in a fight against
Khan, he could be leaving the sport a loser at the end of a glorious
career.

 

Mayweather demoted to WBC Emeritus Champion
The
World Boxing Council has finally made a move and demoted Floyd
Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) to WBC “Emeritus” 147 and 154lb champion.
The WBC met for their Emanuel convention, and made the move in vacating
the 38-year-old Mayweather’s two titles with the organization.

Mayweather
gave the WBC no choice but to make the move after he said he was
retiring and not coming back to the sport after his farewell fight
against Andre Berto on September 12th.

What made thins confusing
is that Mayweather didn’t officially vacate the titles, which gave some
boxing fans the impression that he would come back in 2016 or at some
time in the future to resume defending his titles.

“The titles
are vacated. He [Mayweather] is Emeritus champion,” WBC president
Mauricio Suliaman said via ESPN Desportes. “It’s official. We gave him
time to make this official presentation here at the Convention. We are
proud to do it this way. He is a champion for eternity with the WBC and
he knows this is his family. We are celebrating one of the greatest. If
he leaves and comes back. It is secondary. I would not want to
speculate,” Suliaman said.

Suliaman didn’t say who will be
challenging for Mayweather’s two WBC titles at 147 and 154. Amir Khan is
ranked #1 WBC and Danny Garcia #2 WBC. But it looks like Khan is about
to fight Manny Pacquiao in April of next year.

It wouldn’t be
surprising at all if the WBC put their WBC 147lb title on the line for
that fight if it takes place. Garcia would be out of luck if that
happens. It’s unclear whether he was hoping to fight for the WBC 147lb
title or not, of if he merely moved up in weight to welterweight in
order to get a big payday.

At 154, Jermell Charlo is ranked #1
WBC and John Jackson #2 WBC. This could work out perfectly for Charlo
and Jackson, because Charlo says he’s interested in fighting Jackson in
December. The WBC could then put their WBC 154lb title on the line for
that fight.

Suliaman did the right thing in stripping Mayweather
and demoting him to WBC Emeritus Champion. It’s just surprising that he
didn’t make the move sooner like the WBO did after Mayweather started
talking retirement. The sanctioning bodies have to do this kind of thing
because other fighter’s that are ranked by the WBC have their careers
on hold when the sanctioning bodies just freeze let the champion sit on
the title without defending it like a mother goose.

Former WBC
heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko sat on his WBC title for over a
year without defending it from September 2012 to December 2013. The WBC
waited 15 months before they stripped Vitali of his title.

If
Mayweather wants to come back in 2016 to resume his career, he can get
an immediate title shot against whoever the WBC welterweight and WBC
junior middleweight champions are at that point. It’s doubtful that
Mayweather will bother fighting for either of those belts, because the
fighters that will likely capture those belts aren’t the type of guys
that Mayweather has expressed interest in fighting.

Mayweather
has ignored Khan for years despite his constant chasing of Mayweather.
Jermell Charlo isn’t a big enough name for Mayweather to want to bother
fighting him, because there would be no money in that fight.

It’s
too bad that Mayweather doesn’t come back next year and fight Pacquiao
for the WBC title if he beats Khan in April. But it won’t work out if
Pacquiao gets elected into office in the Philippines in the elections in
May.

Pacquiao is running for a senate position and he has a very
good chance of winning the position, even though he’ll only have 30
days to campaign for the spot due to him being busy training for his
April 9th fight.